The chess world has recently become a hotbed of controversies, with fans witnessing one incident after another in rapid succession. The latest in this series is the escalating feud between FIDE and Freestyle Chess, which has now reached a dramatic peak.
Meanwhile, fans are still buzzing over Magnus Carlsen’s controversies from the 2024 Rapid and Blitz Championship. The Norwegian first made headlines during the Rapid Championship when he withdrew from the tournament over a dispute involving his jeans. In the Blitz Championship, he reached the final but found himself at the center of another controversy when he shared the title with Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi. What truly enraged fans was a viral moment where Carlsen was caught on camera urging his opponent to play short draws if FIDE did not agree to their request for a shared title. The incident sparked a social media storm, with accusations of match-fixing flying from both fans and fellow grandmasters. Many pointed out that in most sports, a winner is always determined, and titles are never shared.
Speaking on the Take Take Take podcast, Carlsen shed more light on his decision to share the Blitz title. When asked if it was due to a lack of competitive drive, he responded candidly:
“I mean, it’s not a disrespectful question at all. I’m very open about the fact that I don’t have quite the same drive as I did before. At some point, I started feeling that after the comeback he made, it would be unfair if he didn’t get his first world championship title because of this. Apart from that, I had been confident of winning earlier—I won the first two games and was feeling good—but after his strong comeback, my confidence was shaken. We also played three high-quality draws in the tiebreak.”
Carlsen admitted that by the end of the match, he was no longer confident of winning outright, and the idea of sharing the title seemed like a reasonable solution. “It was partly that and also just wanting to leave with a world championship title. I honestly thought it would be a nice moment, and I still do. People need to understand that in these situations, you’re not always thinking clearly. There’s only a two-minute break between rounds, no time to rest, and you don’t have the luxury of fully processing everything,” he explained.
Carlsen Cites Tokyo Olympics as Precedent
To justify his decision, Carlsen referenced the high jump event at the Tokyo Olympics, where Italian athlete Gianmarco Tamberi and Qatari Mutaz Barshim chose to share the gold medal instead of competing in a jump-off after clearing the same height.
“Of course, it turned out that people didn’t react the way I expected—unlike the Olympics, where the high jump decision was well received. But that’s fine,” he said.
When asked if he regretted the decision, Carlsen was firm in his response: “No, no, no. I’m happy with how things concluded. The only thing is that I probably didn’t think through everything completely.”
In the Blitz final, Carlsen started strong with two wins and needed only a draw to clinch the title. However, his opponent staged a comeback, winning two consecutive games to level the score at 2-2. The tiebreak saw three consecutive draws, after which Carlsen proposed sharing the title—a suggestion that Nepomniachtchi accepted.
